Commentaria in II Regum (II Samuelis)
Chapter 7
David resolves to build a temple, and the prophet Nathan approves it; but, admonished by God, he recalls this, and asserts that not David but his son Solomon will build the temple. Second, God, verse 16, promises David a continual posterity and a perpetual kingdom.
1. And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, 2. He said to Nathan the prophet: Dost thou see that I dwell in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is lodged within skins? 3. And Nathan said to the king: Go, do all that is in thy heart, because the Lord is with thee. 4. But it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: 5. Go, and say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord: Shalt thou build me a house to dwell in? 6. For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt even to this day: but I have walked in a tabernacle, and in a tent, 7. In all the places that I have gone through with all the children of Israel, did I ever speak a word to any one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying: Why have you not built me a house of cedar? 8. And now thus shalt thou say to my servant David: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I took thee out of the pastures from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel: 9. And I have been with thee wheresoever thou hast walked, killing all thy enemies from before thy face, and I have made thee a great man, like unto the name of the great ones that are on the earth. 10. And I will make a place for my people Israel: and I will plant them, and they shall dwell therein, and shall be disturbed no more: neither shall the children of iniquity afflict them any more as they did before, 11. From the day that I appointed judges over my people Israel: and I will give thee rest from all thy enemies. And the Lord foretelleth to thee, that the Lord will make thee a house. 12. And when thy days shall be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13. He shall build a house to my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son: and if he commit any iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. 15. But my mercy I will not take away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before my face. 16. And thy house shall be faithful, and thy kingdom for ever before thy face, and thy throne shall be firm for ever. 17. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David. 18. And king David went in and sat before the Lord, and said: Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far? 19. But this hath seemed too little in thy sight, O Lord God, unless thou didst also speak of the house of thy servant for a long time to come: for this is the law of Adam, O Lord God. 20. What therefore can David say more unto thee? for thou knowest thy servant, O Lord God. 21. For thy word’s sake, and according to thy own heart, thou hast done all these great things, so that thou wouldst make it known to thy servant. 22. Wherefore thou art magnified, O Lord God, because there is none like to thee, neither is there any God besides thee, of all that we have heard with our ears. 23. And what other nation is there upon earth like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for them great and terrible things upon the earth, before the face of thy people, whom thou hast redeemed to thyself out of Egypt, the nation and its God? 24. For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people for ever: and thou, O Lord God, art become their God. 25. And now, O Lord God, raise up for ever the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house: and do as thou hast spoken, 26. That thy name may be magnified for ever, and it may be said: The Lord of hosts is God over Israel. And the house of thy servant David shall be established before the Lord, 27. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to the ear of thy servant, saying: I will build thee a house: therefore thy servant hath found his heart to pray to thee this prayer. 28. And now, O Lord God, thou art God, and thy words shall be true: for thou hast spoken these good things to thy servant. 29. Begin therefore, and bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it, and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever.
The same is narrated and repeated in 1 Paralipomenon chap. 17, which therefore belongs wholly here.
2. AND THE ARK OF GOD IS LODGED WITHIN SKINS?—For the tabernacle in which it was, was covered with skins of rams dyed red and with violet, like a pavilion, Exodus 26:14, as if to say: This seems unworthy; I wish therefore to build a magnificent temple, that I may place in it honourably the ark of God. Moreover David not only wished but vowed a temple, as is clear from Psalm 131:2 and following. Josephus asserts that David wished it by God’s command; but he errs: for nowhere did God command him to build a temple; nay, when he wished it, he forbade him, as is clear from verse 5. David therefore wished and vowed this building from pure and burning zeal of devotion and for the worship of God, which had driven him to dance before the ark with all his might before all the people, and thence this zeal grew in him day by day, especially because, the ark being present, he himself daily experienced greater benefits of God toward him. Wherefore he judged it unworthy that he himself should dwell in a house of cedar, while God and the ark of God lodged in a tabernacle of skins and a pavilion.
This history Eupolemus narrates thus in Eusebius, book IX of the Preparation for the Gospel, near the end: “When David wished to build a temple to God, he asked God to show him the place of the altar. There an Angel appeared to him standing over the place where he had set up the altar at Jerusalem, and bade him not set up the temple, because he was defiled with human blood and had waged many wars. And his name was Dianathan, and he commanded him to leave the building to his son, but himself to prepare what pertained to the equipment.”